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Regular Meeting – November 15, 2007 Commissioners present; Gordon Ceskowske, Kurt Heckl, Lionel Wagner Dennis VanderWerff and Cheryl Witkowski. Also present: Les Schraufnagel, operator; Barbara Dutkiewicz, resident, and Kathleen Rydquist, clerk-coordinator. Chairman Gordon Ceskowske called the regular meeting of the Fox Lake Inland Lake Protection and Rehabilitation District to order at 9:00am on November 14, 2007 at the District Town Hall Office. Motion to approve the minutes as printed, L. Wagner, second K. Heckl. All yes. Motion carried. Motion to approve the financial statement as printed, subject to audit, K. Heckl, second C. Witkowski. All yes. Motion carried. Operators report: attached WCC report: 1] The District should be receiving a check from Wastewater for the City overage surcharge soon. The auditor suggested that: a) Wastewater should bill the City for the overage b) the City will write a check to Wastewater c) Wastewater will then write a check to the District. 2] The meters have been delivered to WCC. They are waiting for valves and the contractor. Clerk-coordinator report: 1] Set up and attended the November meeting with Senator Fitzgerald, Representative Fitzgerald, Marc Bethke, Neal O’Reilly, and the District Board at Juneau. N. O’Reilly will send a letter to the Fitzgerald’s outlining the subjects for discussion. 2] Prepared for and attended the Community Relations Committee Meeting along with G. Ceskowske and L. Wagner at Fox Lake Correctional Institution as per Senator Fitzgerald’s suggestion. 3] Wrote letters to all on the Dodge County Board expressing the District’s support to keep money in the County budget for the 4th full-time conservationist. Contacted Lake Emily, Beaver Dam, and Lake Sinissippi about doing the same. All sent letters. 4] Attended Budget Hearing on November 12 at Juneau with D. VanderWerff. Made a brief comment in favor of full funding for LCD. 5] Steve Kallenbach and his crew spent a day on Fox Lake fishing for carp. He stated that he had so many game fish in the seine that it wasn’t worth his time to separate the carp out. Said that he may be back again before the lake freezes. 6] Completed annual letter to the Town Clerk advising him of the amount of the District tax levy, delinquent utilities, and a special charge to one customer for an outstanding charge. 7] Will begin preparation for next year’s chemical treatment. 8] Received a call from an Elmwood Island resident asking about easements and a new sewer hookup. County report: D. VanderWerff stated that he spoke at the Dodge County Board of Supervisors Budget Hearing in favor of full funding for the Land Conservation Department. He also stated that the newspaper and radio reported the following day that the funding had been reinstated. It was also stated that while Fox Lake, Beaver Dam, Lake Emily, Lake Sinissippi, and Conservation organizations wrote and/or spoke in favor of the LCD funding, there were no comments/letters from farmers. Regular Meeting – November 14, 2007, page 2 Town report: L. Wagner stated that the Town Budget came in at $54 dollars above last year. The Town will be paying $70,000 towards a new fire truck. They asked for an additional $14,000 for the chassis and that was approved. The old fire trucks are for sale. Audience participation: Thanks to Barb for the deviled eggs and cookies. Delicious as always. Old business: 1] Maintenance of weir/Wiersma Property – Buchda is available and haven’t heard anything from Gull’s Digging. Will take off agenda. 2] Watershed study/Management Plan meeting with Legislators – The District Board and Neal O’Reilly met with Senator Scott Fitzgerald and Representative Jeff Fitzgerald to discuss the high nutrient levels found in the Drew Creek sub-watershed, some of which may be coming from the prison and/or prison farm. Neal explained the results of the study and how it relates to the watershed, groundwater, and lake. Senator Fitzgerald suggested that the District attend the Community Relations Committee meeting at Fox Lake Correctional on November 9th. He stated that that would be a good place to start a dialog with prison staff. He will have his assistant contact the prison to get us invited and on the agenda. Before leaving, he asked that we keep him informed on our progress and offered his help should we need it. 3] Environmental Assessment – In order to ensure that we are in position to do an emergency spring alum treatment, the District must write an environmental assessment. Without this in place, DNR will not issue a permit. A motion was made by K. Heckl, second D. VanderWerff, to authorize Neal O’Reilly to research and write an environmental assessment for the District at a cost not to exceed $10,000. Outside sources of funding (DNR grants) will be explored to help defray our costs. All yes. Motion carried. 4] Form for hook-ups – A modified form, to be filled out by patrons, was presented for additions and corrections. The building inspector, Jim Lawton, joined us for a short time to set up a procedure to deal with the form. It was decided that he would be given a stack of forms to hand out when some comes to him to: a) Tear down a building permanently b) Tear down and rebuild c) Build on undeveloped property. When someone requests a form, he will initial it and put his building permit number on it. He will give it to the person, who will fill it out and return it to the District with the fee. After receiving the completed form and payment, the Clerk will make a copy for building inspector to keep in his files. He will not issue a permit until the District portion is satisfied. 5] Tracer must be installed on the laterals for all new builds. Les found a “tracer wire access box” that the District can purchase for $17.00 and some change plus shipping and handling from the supplier. We suggest offering the “box” for $20.00 to the owner/builder. The consensus is that that is a fair price. 6] Insurance meeting request for information – K. Heckl had asked the insurance man about coverage in the event of a break in the sewer mains that run under the lake bed. Richards Insurance rep stated that such coverage is very expensive and not necessarily needed. Attorney O’Connor was also queried about subsequent lake clean up and DNR fines. He stated that in his experience such a break would be considered an act of God and repair and clean up would be expected to take place as soon as possible without additional fines. 7] Use of District truck at Wastewater – After some discussion, a motion was made by K. Heckl, second C. Witkowski to charge the Wastewater Control Commission $12.00 per day for a time not to exceed one hour, to read the meters only. The readings must be taken first thing in the morning and shall not interfere with emergency need in the District. All yes. Motion carried. Regular Meeting – November 14, 2007, page 3 8] Harvesting contract – The District will again arrange for Harvesting of aquatic plants. The clerk will ask our attorney if we have to put it out for bid again. Motion by K. Heckl, second D. VanderWerff to sign the harvesting contract with Midwest Aquatics and pay the deposit subject to Attorney O’Connor’s approval. All yes. Motion carried. New business: 1] Motion by D. VanderWerff, second K. Heckl to give the clerk a Christmas gift of $100. All yes. Motion carried. (Thank You) 2] Field trip to FLCI treatment plant – At the November 9th meeting at the prison, the treatment plant operator offered to give us a tour of the treatment plant. We asked if we could arrange it for another time when other board members could attend. He said that was fine. Will contact Neal O’Reilly to see if he wants to come along and, if so, will get dates from him when he is available. Motion to pay the bills D. VanderWerff, second L. Wagner. All yes. Motion carried. Suggestions for the next meeting: 1] Contact person about confined space training/help Les; 2] Where to put surcharge money from WCC; 3] Funding for further watershed testing 4] Elmwood Is. The next meeting will be December 12, 2007 at 9:00am. Motion to adjourn L. Wagner, second K. Heckl. All yes. Motion carried. NOTE: The meeting date and time have been changed. The regular meeting will be on Tuesday, December 4, 2007 at 8:30am. After the meeting, anyone who wishes can meet back at the office at 12:30 for a short informal meeting with Neal O’Reilly and then we will go to the prison treatment plant for a tour. .